Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, foodborne disease, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, outbreak, Uncategorized
A firm that the government says has been importing contaminated papayas since at least 2011 is vehemently denying statements made in an FDA warning, despite evidence that Cavi brand papayas have been linked to several Salmonella outbreaks, including a current one.
The warning letter, sent yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration and posted for the public today, cites numerous times from 2011 through this year when papayas imported by Agroson’s LLC in the Bronx, NY, were linked to outbreaks that sickened hundreds of people.
Statement calling on all sectors of the papaya industry to improve practices to better protect consumers.
Every day Americans enjoy an abundant food supply that is among the safest in the world. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration works tirelessly to ensure that foods available to consumers, whether they are produced domestically or abroad, meet the FDA’s food safety requirements and that we are using all available tools to ensure compliance.
As demand and tastes continue to drive change in the market, consumers’ desire for a variety of products available year-round have increased the number of imported foods offered for sale in the U.S. To keep up with this trend, we have doubled down on our efforts to ensure the safety of imported food. This includes issuing a new Strategy for the Safety of Imported Food and requesting new funding from Congress to support our efforts.
While we continue to focus on shifting our work upholding food safety from response to prevention, we know that there are times where we will still need to respond to problems when they arise, including outbreaks of foodborne illness. This is especially important when we see recurrent patterns of illness associated with particular commodities. For example, fresh papayas. This commodity is most often eaten raw, without cooking or processing to eliminate microbial hazards; and therefore, the way they are grown, harvested, packed, held, processed and distributed is crucial to minimizing the risk of contamination with human pathogens.
Unfortunately, since 2011, American consumers have been exposed to eight outbreaks caused by Salmonella serotypes linked to imported, fresh papaya. And, just this June we started an investigation into an outbreak of Salmonella Uganda illnesses tied to the consumption of whole, fresh papaya imported from Mexico. While the 2019 outbreak is ongoing, the first seven outbreaks accounted for almost 500 reported cases of illness, more than 100 hospitalizations, and two deaths.
This trend has to stop. The pattern of recurrent outbreaks we have observed since 2011, including the 2019 illnesses, have involved Salmonella infections traced back to, or are suspected of being associated with, papaya grown in Mexico. The recurring nature of these outbreaks is a clear indication that more must be done within all sectors of the papaya industry to protect its customers and to meet its legal obligations. This includes growers, importers and even retailers that can and must do more.
This is why today we have issued a letter calling on all sectors of the papaya industry to take actions to prevent these outbreaks in the future. We are urging growers, packers, shippers and retailers in the papaya industry to review their operations and make all necessary changes to strengthen public health safeguards.
Our letter calls on the papaya industry to assess the factors that make their crops vulnerable to contamination. If a foodborne pathogen is identified in the crop or growing environment, a root cause analysis should be performed to determine the likely source of contamination. Procedures and practices that minimize that contamination must be implemented.
We are strongly encouraging the papaya industry to examine the use and monitoring of water used to grow, spray (pesticides, fungicides), move, rinse or wax crops to identify and minimize risks from potential hazards. All sectors of the industry should adopt tools and practices needed to enhance traceability since papayas are a perishable commodity, to more rapidly facilitate the tracking of involved product to expedite its removal from commerce, prevent additional consumer exposures, and properly focus any recall actions.
And finally, they should fund and actively engage in food safety research to identify the potential sources and routes of contamination by microbial pathogens and develop data-driven and risk-based preventive controls.
In response to this most recent Salmonella Uganda outbreak, the FDA deployed an inspection team to the packing house and farm that was linked to the contaminated papayas via traceback and epidemiological evidence. The findings of those visits will be made public when their investigation is complete. We have also increased sampling and screening of papayas at the border. In addition, the FDA is actively collaborating with our counterparts in the Mexican government regarding this current outbreak through the agency’s Latin America Office to determine ways to further our collaborative prevention efforts.
The U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits food producers from introducing, or delivering for introduction, into interstate commerce adulterated foods (meaning foods that are potentially harmful to consumers). Additionally, there are new requirements under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The Produce Safety Rule under FSMA sets science- and risk-based minimum standards for domestic and foreign farms for the safe growing, harvesting, packing and holding of covered produce, which includes papayas. Another FSMA rule, the Foreign Supplier Verification Program(FSVP) makes importers responsible for verifying that the foods they bring into the U.S., including papayas, have been produced in a manner that meets applicable U.S. safety standards.
We take our responsibility to protect public health very seriously and will continue to use all of our regulatory authorities and enforcement tools available to do so. So, today we issued a warning letter to a papaya importer, Agroson’s LLC, following an FDA investigation at the facility in conjunction with the current outbreak. This investigation uncovered significant violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Rest assured that the FDA will continue to strengthen safeguards and prevent contaminated papayas from being imported into the U.S. Our efforts also include education, outreach, training and research activities designed to support farmers’ efforts to keep their crops safe for consumers.
Although today’s actions focus on the papaya industry, recurring outbreaks taking place with any commodity are unacceptable from a public health perspective. We know that more must be done by industry as repeated illness outbreaks are a threat to public health. In such situations, it is incumbent upon all sectors of the industry to work together to investigate the cause, review food safety procedures and practices, and take action to prevent further outbreaks.
We must take collective steps to eliminate the threat that recurring outbreaks pose to consumers and look forward to working with the papaya industry as well as all food producers to ensure that America’s food supply remains among the safest in the world.
The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.
Spanish health authorities announced a second person has died in an outbreak of Listeria from pork meat. The health spokesman for the southern Andalusia region, José Miguel Cisneros, said Friday a 72-year-old man who was in a terminal phase of pancreatic cancer died from the bacteria.
The first victim was a 90-year-old woman earlier this week. The outbreak started Aug. 15 in Andalusia and has sickened at least 186 people. The Spanish Health Ministry said it was looking into another 523 suspected cases. Of the 50 people currently hospitalized, 23 of them are pregnant women. Sevilla is the most affected region (with 153 cases), followed by Huelva (16), Cádiz (8), Malaga (5), and Granada (4). Other regions with confirmed cases are Asturias, Aragón, and Extremadura.
The packaged meat plant to the outbreak is being inspected by Spanish officials after lab tests showed the presence of Listeria. The product blamed for the outbreak is a stringy cooked meat sold under the brand “La Mechá.”
RASFF – foodborne outbreak caused by Listeria monocytogenes (>1.5x10E4 CFU/g) in chilled roast pork (carne mechada) from Spain in Spain
Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, listeriosis, Uncategorized
The country ranks third in the EU for reported cases of listeriosis, which is caused by a common bacteria that withstands freezing temperatures and oxygen starvation
On a European scale, Spain had the third highest incidence of reported listeriosis cases in 2016, trailing Germany and France, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
The epidemiologist Zaida Herrador from the Carlos III Health Institute is the main author of the biggest research effort to date on the incidence of listeria in Spain. From 1997 to 2015, a total of 5,696 people were admitted to hospital for listeriosis. Almost 1,000 of these cases proved lethal (17%) in a trend that has seen the average figure of 20 annual deaths two decades ago rise to an average of 70 in recent years. “It’s a growing problem, and there is still a lot to be investigated,” says Herrador. “We can see that the number of cases is growing noticeably, but presumably this is because they are being reported more. It wasn’t an illness that had to be declared until 2015.”
iwaspoisoned.com is for people who love to eat out but don’t expect to be ill because of it. The platform is a consumer led website for diners to report suspected food poisoning or bad food experiences. It allows users to report food poisoning from businesses, food products, or if they have general symptoms. This real time information is shared by consumers, food authorities, restaurants, and industry with one aim – to make eating a safer experience. By aggregating and analyzing citizen-submitted data, our site prevents food poisoning outbreaks, reduces risks, and creates better outcomes for restaurants, shareholders, and the public.
Use data to bring together consumers, public health, and industry in near real-time to keep people safer and businesses more profitable.
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| This is especially true of IWasPoisoned, which has collected about 89,000 reports since it opened in 2009. Consumers use the site to decide which restaurants to avoid, and public health departments and food industry groups routinely monitor its submissions, hoping to identify outbreaks before they spread. The site has even begun to tilt stocks, as traders on Wall Street see the value of knowing which national restaurant chain might soon have a food-safety crisis on its hands. |
An outbreak of listeriosis in Spain has sickened about 155 people to date, killing one, according to the health authorities. The Spanish Health Ministry said it was looking into another 523 suspected cases.
The outbreak has primarily affected Andalusia in the Seville region; however, cases have also been recorded in Asturias, Extremadura, Madrid, Catalonia and Aragon.
Unfortunately, a 90-year-old Andalusia woman has become the first fatal victim.
The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) has already warned about a roasted meat product of the brand “La Mechá” made by Magrudis SL not to consume it.
An outbreak of listeriosis in Spain caused by meat produced by a firm in the southern Spanish province of Seville is now having international repercussions. The country’s Health Ministry has activated alert and communication systems with the European authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) “given the possibility that cases might be detected in other countries.” The move, according to ministerial sources, is a precaution in case any tourists visiting the country may have contracted the infection after consuming contaminated products in Spain. So far there have been no registered cases outside of the country.
The current outbreak of the bacterial infection has its source in pork meatloaf – known in Spanish as ‘carne mechada’
The current outbreak of the bacterial infection has its source in pork meatloaf – known in Spanish as carne mechada – sold under the brand name La Mechá, and produced by the Seville-based company Magrudis S.L.
A total of 53 people – including 23 pregnant women – are currently hospitalized in Andalusia due to the bacterial infection, three of whom are in intensive care. So far, one person has died from the outbreak: a 90-year-old woman who passed away in the early hours of Monday in a Seville hospital.
Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, foodborne disease, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Uncategorized
People who died from food poisoning at Rodama in Kieni West, Nyeri County, started experiencing pains diarrhea and abdominal pains three days after eating the food.
• Nderitu said he did not suspect foul play. He said there might have been poor handling of the food which led to contamination.
Four people who died of food poisoning in Rodama, Kieni West, started feeling abdominal pains and had diarrhoea three days after eating food at dowry ceremony.
Mugunda MCA Joseph Nderitu, who was part of the guests, said the event was held on Thursday but people started feeling the symptoms on Saturday.
“Many of the people started complaining of diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pains on Saturday,” he said on Monday.
The Nyeri County health department has increased its surveillance after four people died after eating at a dowry ceremony at Ruirii village in Kieni constituency last Thursday.
Director of Medical Services Nelson Muriu said residents who attended the ceremony trooped to hospitals exhibiting cholera-like symptoms.
The food was outsourced from Kitengela in Kajiado County for the event attended by more than 250 guests from Nyeri and Nairobi counties.
CHOLERA
The groom’s mother who had accompanied her son from Nairobi, died in the city. The bridegroom is receiving treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital.
“The patient at KNH has tested negative for cholera and is being treated for food poisoning,”
Apologies for this being late but i have been on holiday 🙂
The Public Health England (PHE) team investigating cases of listeriosis linked to sandwiches and salads in NHS hospitals in England has confirmed that, since the last update on 26 June 2019, there has been another death, bringing to six the total number of deaths linked to this outbreak.
The individual who died was one of the nine previously confirmed cases. The individual is considered to have acquired listeriosis from Good Food Chain products while at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
PHE continues to test all samples of listeria on an ongoing basis to check if they are linked to this outbreak. To date, thirty-four samples have been tested, with none linked to the outbreak.
There have been no new cases of listeriosis linked to this outbreak. Investigations are continuing and the public should be reassured that the risk continues to be low.
No cases have been reported in Scotland so far.
Posted April 17, 2019 at 4:30 PM ET
CDC and several states are investigating a multistate outbreak of Listeria infections linked to deli-sliced meats and cheeses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are monitoring the outbreak.
FoodWorld 